Electrical terminals of the type described herein include a tubular end portion commonly referred to as a barrel, which may be placed over the stripped end of an electrical cable containing solid or stranded conductors therein. This barrel may be crimped or otherwise mechanically and electrically secured to the stripped end of the cable. The other end of the terminal typically includes terminal tongue which is of a wide variety of shapes and sizes for effecting different terminations.
Typically, these terminals are elongate members having the barrel at one end and the terminal end at the other. Thus, connectors of this type make a straight line connection between the electrical cable and the electrical device to which it is terminated.
However, the industry has seen a need to make connections to termination portions on an electrical device with the cable being introduced at some angle (typically 90.degree.) to the electrical device. Quite often the cables themselves are bent in order to make such connection. However, it is apparent that bending the cable in this manner may cause the insulation around the cable to crack or break which could lead to problems due to insufficient insulation covering the cable.
One solution to this problem is to cast a right angle (or any other desired angle) connector for making such transition in the connector itself. However, an individually cast part must be formed for each specific application.
Right angle electrical contacts are widely used in electrical connector housings, for example, to make right angle transitions. Such contacts are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,050,769 issued Sept. 27, 1977 and 4,080,041 issued Mar. 4, 1978. Right angle contacts of this type may also be used individually as cable terminations as is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,552,430 issued Nov. 12, 1985. Terminations of this type include a cable connection portion at one end and a termination portion at the other end and an elongate metal rod connecting the two ends. The rod may be constructed so that the cable connection end and the termination end are disposed at a right angle. However, since bar stock is being used to make such right angle transition, a barrel portion will not be presented to accommodate the stripped end of the cable for crimping or other mechanical and electrical connection thereto. Thus, the termination described in the '430 patent requires the use of a complex connection device attachable to one end of the bar stock for connecting the electrical cable thereto. Further, bar stock is more costly due in part to its additional weight and its difficulty to manufacture.
It is desirable to provide a method of using stock tubing to form an electrical connector which will make the angular transition desirable.